January 19th and 20th at 11:00am 2019 brings with it the centenary of the First Dáil and to mark this monumentous occasion in Ireland’s history, we are running special tours in January. Glasnevin Cemetery is synonymous with influential figures from Irish history. Twenty-five members of the First Dáil which was founded in 1919 are buried here. We want to share their fascinating stories with you, some of the figures we will be taking a look at are: Harry Boland Born in Dublin in 1887, Boland joined the IRB and was active during the Easter Rising. In the 1918 general election, he was elected to represent South Roscommon. In line with all Sinn Féin MPs elected at that time, he did not represent his constituents at Westminster but withdrew to sit in the declared independent Dáil Éireann. On January 21st, while the first Dáil was assembling, Harry Boland and Michael Collins were on a boat to England to perform a special undercover job – namely, breaking Eamon de Valera from prison. He opposed the treaty along with de Valera during the Civil War. He was shot at the Grand Hotel in Skerries in 1922. Cathal Brugha Born Charles Burgess, Cathal Brugha became lieutenant in the Irish Volunteers in 1913. During the Easter Rising Brugha was second in command at the South Dublin Union and was severely wounded. Following this, Brugha organised the amalgamation of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army into the Irish Republican Army (IRA). On January 21st 1919 when the Sinn Féin Members of Parliament met in Dublin, Brugha presided at the meeting as Ceann Comhairle (chairman). The next meeting of Dáil Éireann elected Brugha ‘President of the Ministry’ but on April 1st 1919, he resigned to make way for Éamon de Valera who succeeded him as Head of State. Brugha died in July 1922 when he was fatally wounded during a week of fighting between supporters and opponents of the...